1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving force control device of a vehicle in which one driving force characteristic is selected out of a plurality of different driving force characteristics by an external manipulation to control a driving force in accordance with the selected driving force characteristic.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an engine with a so-called electronically controlled throttle in which a throttle valve is electronically controlled using a throttle actuator, an accelerator pedal and the throttle valve are not mechanically linked and hence, opening degree of the throttle valve (throttle opening degree) can be controlled with nonlinear characteristic with respect to an operation amount of the accelerator pedal (accelerator opening degree).
For example, publication of unexamined patent application JP A 2005-188384 discloses a technology in which an operation state of an engine is divided into a plurality of operation regions based on an engine rotational speed and accelerator opening degree and a map is set for each operation region to perform control of the throttle valve conforming to the operation state of the engine.
According to the technology disclosed in this document, a favorable operation performance is achieved by allowing the engine to exhibit the maximum potential during high-speed traveling, while a favorable driveability is achieved by operating the engine with the suppressed power when stopping and starting are repeated as in the case of a traffic jam.